KGYR-Phoenix, AZ, 12/29/2014: the AirTran Airlift

Hey Guys,

Catching up with some stuff I took late last year. It was the day after the final AirTran revenue flight, and I was kicking around the house in Cave Creek looking for something to do. For fun I checked the flightaware page for Goodyear and noted the AirTran 717 fleet was due into Goodyear for storage pending Deltafication. I mean ever last 717 they still operated, something like 14 frames in one day. Having been a stalwart Citrus customer, and having enjoyed many a morning listening to XM satellite radio whilst jetting to ATL, there was no question where I was gonna be. It was a bit sad knowing this was the last time I would see my favorite domestic carrier to fly on, one that had taken me to many awesome events, including more than one spotting outing. I recognize the material here is a bit repetitive, but as it is the last time we will be seeing these sharp little 717s, I think we can let it slide...

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7329/...d7564f2a_o.jpgIMG_6309 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7349/...c022f05c_o.jpgIMG_6290 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7381/...c0005a74_o.jpgIMG_6263 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7343/...bb5a92ca_o.jpgIMG_6215 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr

Quite possibly the last flights to operate under the Citrus callsign (and yes, they were operating as Citrus still!)


Then I trudged to the fence to see this sad A320, still intact-ish after some time in the desert

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8657/...78f30e71_o.jpgIMG_9843 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr



Hope you enjoyed, thanks for checking them out.


Cheers!

Nick

Nice shots.
I did not even know Airtran had "ceased to exist until a week ago when someone had told me in passing. So we lost another one.

Senga

Call them bland photos, but they're certainly historic. These'll be cherished more with time. -- while scouting around outside the fence what did you see inside Goodyear? Anything of interest?

Yeah, these are a great share!! Thank you!

Thanks for sharing Nick. I'm sad to see Citrus go as well having used them to get to more than one vacation in the past, not to mention a nice livery to photograph.

All those Mad Dog's and not a single one of their 737's came in? I guess they got rid of all those before they finally ceased ops.

I flew them from TPA to PHL in 2005, and it was a decent experience. What a shame, I loved their specials although the only one I ever managed to catch was Orlando Magic

Most of the 737s went over to Southwest, but a handful were scattered around the world to various operators looking to pick up a couple. Getting their hands on all of those 73Gs along with the acquisition were valuable assets. I think there are less than 10 inactive/stored 73G frames worldwide, so they're still tough to come by if you need to grow capacity.

Thanks Guys! Mateo is right, the 737-700s all went to WN, while these 717s went to the desert. They seem to be leaving GYR at a good clip- I think someone mentioned they are being converted for DL at a rate of 3 per month these days.

I only ever shot one of the specials as well, William, the Milwaukee Brewers one... although I did fly on the Baltimore Ravens one from RIC-to-ATL once... painful affair for my family the Steelers' fans.